


Most of All

by HereIGoAgain



Category: Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them (Movies), Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Awkward Romance, F/M, Romance
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-11-27
Updated: 2016-11-27
Packaged: 2018-09-02 11:33:27
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,957
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8665987
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/HereIGoAgain/pseuds/HereIGoAgain
Summary: Newt loves his creatures, most of all.





	

**Author's Note:**

> Hi you lovely Fantastic Beasts & Where to Find Them lover! Or, if you're not, hi anyway, lover ;)
> 
> It has been a (read: understatement) while since I've written a fic, but when I saw this movie, I was completely entranced, the magic totally revived in me. And, I absolutely fell for Eddie Redmayne's Newt Scamander. What brilliance. What awkwardness. What adorable-ness.
> 
> Thus spawned this little ficlet. I was craving to write a fic where there's a romantic interest with Newt, and Serene is supposed to be a stand-in for a 2nd PoV, hence the lack of description of her character.
> 
> So, this is for all of you who walked out of that theater thinking "oh my God Newt Scamander, Eddie Redmayne, Newt Scamander." Serene is you. I am you. We are Serene. Love us, Newt.

**Most of All**

**~**

The Great Hall had been cleared of the four house’s tables, allowing for the chatter of the student’s to echo more than usual, despite it being only sixth years present.

Serene shifted her foot an inch forward, so the brown toe of her boot bumped the wooden circle to her left. It shifted, just slightly. She lifted her toe, pressing down on the edge of the circle so the hoop lifted, bumping against her shin.

“All right everyone, quiet down!”

Serene looked up, letting the hoop fall back to the ground with a clatter that was not lost in the sudden hush of voices, but no one paid the noise any mind. They were all too excited for the lesson ahead. She couldn’t say any differently. Hard as it was to pay attention to the Apparition instructor give his spiel on Apparating and Disapparating, Serene did her best. Losing an arm was not on her list of things to do today.

“Remember to concentrate  _only_  on the inside of the wooden hoop to your right. Letting your mind wander…well, that’s how you leave things behind.”

To her left, her friend (although Serene used the word loosely sometimes) dramatically grabbed her shoulder and mimed it being ripped off.  _Thanks, Bea_  Serene thought dryly, pointedly looking away.

“Now!” the instructor said brightly, “Time to put words into action! On the count of three, step forward and turn sharply on the spot. Concentrate on the inside of that hoop. And 3…2…1!”

Serene stepped forward and turned sharply. As expected, she teetered a little, catching her balance on her other foot. She glanced around, seeing similar lack of success around the room. Several people had turned so sharply they’d landed straight on their arses in an unflattering heap of waving limbs.

“Now, now, that’s to be expected, brush off and keep on trying now!” the instructor said cheerily. “We shall be walking about the room if you need any assistance.”

Serene rolled her shoulders, stepped back, and glanced at the circle to her right, narrowing her eyes a little.  _Circle. Circle. Circle right there. Right circle. 3, 2, and—_

“ _Oof!_ ”

Serene was knocked hard from the side, so hard that her body twisted around as she fell so that her back smacked against the ground—the only problem being that the wooden circle was right where she landed, and it dug into her lower back in a way that made her cry out, rather pathetically. Damn, that  _hurt_. And it was still pressing hard into her, painfully so, as a result of the warm body pressing on top of her.

“Merlin’s beard,” a voice huffed into her ear. Fumbling hands slipped off her shoulders and onto the floor on either side of her head. Serene bit back a groan, the wood doing a spectacular job of digging past the layers of robes. Serene blinked into anxious, bright eyes.

“Hi, Newt,” she said, breathless. He had literally knocked the wind out of her.

Newt Scamander bit his lip, his sandy brown hair flopping into his eyes. “Hi, Serene.”

Serene held her breath as she looked up at him.  _How can one person be so—so—_

Newt’s eyes, green in this lighting, were locked on hers.

“Not the way I was hoping to end up inside the circle,” she finally gasped.

He stared down at her for another beat, then nodded, almost to himself, before clumsily, but quickly, pushing himself off of her. Serene sat up, grimacing at the jabbing pain from the wooden circle the movement caused. Newt’s lips twitched and he offered his hand anxiously. Serene grasped it, allowing him to help her into a standing position.

“Are you hurt?” Newt said.

“Not at all,” Serene said, waving him off, then holding back a jump when she felt deft fingers sifting over her back.

“Newt, bloody h—that’s not necessary,” she said, biting back a grimace when his thumb pressed into the sore spot on her back. The Hufflepuff, ever observant, did not miss this, and proceeded to ignore her, flattening his palm on her back, intent on solving the source of her pain.

“ _Newt_ ,” Serene said, knowing stepping back was all she had to do to stop him.

She didn’t. She frowned, almost imperceptibly, at Newt’s concentrated face. He was trying to move around her to get a better angle at the bruising on her back. Serene lifted a hand and pressed it against his chest. Newt blinked up at her.

“Newt,” Serene said, hiding a smile at his wide-eyed expression. “Concentrate on  _that_ ,” she said, pointing at the wooden hoop behind hers. “I promise. I’m fine.”

“All right,” Newt said. He turned back to his wooden hoop, glanced back at her once more before walking back to his spot behind her. Serene turned back around. She stared at her own hoop, but any concentration she might have had earlier was long gone. All she could think about was the feeling of Newt’s pressing fingers on her back. She swallowed, closing her eyes in a poor defense against the flush in her cheeks. It was silly to still react this way. Newt and Serene had been friends for almost five years now, and she knew there was no romance behind his looks, or touches. Newt had an odd way of being caring, yet clinical at the same time.

Serene sighed and glared down at the wooden circle. Clinical was not the right word. That was too cold, and Newt was anything but.

She heard a distinct pop behind her, and whirled around. Newt stood in the middle of his wooden circle. He looked up from his shoes, right into Serene’s eyes, and smiled.

“Wanker,” Serene said.

*

“So,” Bea said, pointing her fork at Serene the next day during lunch, The Great Hall once again full of tables and students. “What did you think of yesterday’s lesson?”

Serene grimaced. “Well, I felt a tingle towards the end…does that count for something?”

Bea grinned. “You mean when Newt was laying on top of you?”

Serene glared at her. “I said the  _end_ , Bea.”

“Well, you aren't denying the tingles,” she said.

“I’m talking about Apparating!”

Bea popped a chip into her mouth, unconcerned. Her gaze drifted to a point over Serene’s shoulder, surely coming to rest on the Hufflepuff table. “He  _is_  scrumptious for being a bit of an oddball, isn't he?”

"He is not an _oddball_ ," Serene growled, fighting the urge to look over her shoulder to seek out Newt. Bea always did this, bringing up any slight interaction she had witnessed between her and Newt and goading Serene with it, in the hopes that Serene would let her feelings slip again, in the way she had one year ago after Gryffindor’s win against Hufflepuff.

Six bottles of Firewhisky in had given an odd glowing sheen to Serene’s memory from the match, of Newt’s windswept hair and look of concentration as he passed the Quaffle, his practically sheepish grin when Serene intercepted. He was like an angel on a broomstick, as Serene blurted to an all too pleased Bea.

“I want to eat his hair,” Serene hiccupped, the final nail in the coffin.

She blamed the Firewhisky in particular for that last bit.

 “You know,” Bea said slyly, bringing Serene back to the not-so-improved present. “I could just eat hi—”

“ _Bea_ ,” Serene snapped around a mouthful of shepherd’s pie. She finally risked a glance behind her and almost choked on her food when she saw Newt was looking right at her.

He was sitting with a group of fellow Hufflepuffs from his year, although there was a space of distance between him and them, so slight you wouldn’t have noticed unless you knew Newt’s best friends weren’t people—they were creatures.

Newt glanced down at his plate, then back up at her, lips curving into a grin. Serene smiled back—she couldn’t  _not_.

Bea fixed  _that_  problem when Serene turned back around. She was looking at her knowingly. “Maybe,” she said, a teasing lilt in her voice, “if you grow some scales, he’ll kiss you.”

She’d had enough. Throwing Bea a particularly peeved look, Serene stood up and left her pie, half eaten, on the table, trying not to stomp as she left the Great Hall.

*

Although it was cooling down, fall losing ground to winter, there wasn’t a cloud in the sky, and the sun was bright and warm on Serene’s face as she walked across the grounds. She sighed, settling on a spot that was far enough away from other students that she wouldn’t be disturbed, and sat down, gingerly lowering herself onto her back, which was still quite tender from her tumble the day before. She closed her eyes against the blue sky above her, welcoming the rays shining down on her face.

She knew Bea wasn’t right.  _Right?_

Serene didn’t have a problem with Newt’s love for creatures. He was brilliant, and her heart swelled every time he came up to her with a new fact or whispered under his breath something Professor Kettleburn wasn’t teaching about that day’s lesson. It was one of the things she adored about him. What made her stomach drop was the fear that he had so much love for them, that were wasn’t any left for her.

The air suddenly got cooler as a shadow blocked out the sun’s rays, feet rustling the leaves just behind her head. Serene opened her eyes to look up at the figure hovering above her.

“What’s the matter, now?” Newt said kindly.

Serene waved her arms in what she hoped would pass for some sort of answer.

Newt raised his eyebrows and sat down right behind her. “Say again?”

Damn. Serene’s arms fell with a thunk onto the hard ground. “Bea is being a twat. Per usual.”

Newt leaned forward, so instead of staring up at the sun, she was staring up at Newt’s face. Just as blinding, really.

“Don’t let her bother you,” Newt said. He smiled. “Is that all, now?”

Serene took a moment to just look at him. He was looking back at her, and it was one of those quiet moments where she felt that he was really  _seeing_  her. With a mind like Newt’s, to feel his focus, bright eyes, a yellow-green today, trained solely on her…well, it took her breath away. She allowed her gaze to flick down towards his lips, soft and pink and serious as he waited for her to answer.

Surprising both of them, Serene reached up and cupped the side of his face in her hand. She could feel a slight stubble form his chin against her palm, contrasting with the softness of his cheeks against her fingers.

“You have such a beautiful soul, Newt,” Serene found herself saying. It wasn’t really an answer to Newt’s question, but she didn’t care. “Don’t let anyone change that.”

Newt leaned closer then, so close that Serene could taste his breath on her lips. Newt touched her mouth with his fingers. Serene thought she may melt.

“What’s wrong?” Newt whispered.

Serene could do it. Summon all her Gryffindor courage, lean up two inches, and kiss him. Merlin knew she wanted to.

But did  _he_  want her to?

She slipped her hand up to ruffle his hair and smiled. “Nothing now that Newt Scamander is here to care for me.”

Newt coughed out a laugh, and they both moved away at the same time, Serene turning onto her stomach and Newt leaning back on his hands.

“Speaking of care,” Newt said. “Our last class is starting soon.”

“Kettleburn finally going to show us the rest of the hippogriffs, is he?” Serene said, lifting a wrist to glance at her watch. Care of Magical creatures began in about ten minutes.

Newt chuckled. “Only if you’re polite.”

“No promises.”

*

That evening Serene found herself sitting on the edge of the wooden fence, watching Newt and Professor Kettleburn talking over the back of a young hippogriff named Chessie, whose right wing was in a sling. The rest of their class had gone back to the castle. It was getting cold as the sun began to lower behind Hogwarts, rays casting an orange glow over the edges of the stone.

Serene pulled her red and gold scarf up to her nose. Newt chose that moment to glance over the hippogriff at her. Serene crossed her eyes at him. Hiding a smile, he turned back to the Professor, they exchanged a few more words before Kettleburn turned around and began to walk towards the castle, nodding at Serene as he passed. Serene gave him a wave. She turned back towards Newt, who was stroking Chessie’s beak now.

Serene pushed herself off the fence, dry leaves crunching under her boots. Slowly, she walked towards the pair, pausing a few feet away and keeping her eyes on the ground as she bowed down low.

Chessie’s talons massaged the dirt and she saw her neck feathers ruffle as she bobbed her head lazily in her direction. When Serene straightened, Newt was smiling at her.

“I told Professor Kettleburn we would take care of Chessie here,” Newt said, pushing his fingers through Chessie the hippogriff’s feathers.

“Naturally,” Serene said, reaching out and patting Chessie’s beak. Chessie’s eyes slid shut lazily.

“She’s still recovering from the fight with the older hippogriff that nearly tore out Mander’s eye earlier,” Newt said, moving back and pushing his hand over the edge of Chessie’s bandaged wing. Chessie’s yellow eyes blinked open, but she did not appear alarmed. That was unlikely, with Newt’s hands on her.

“Chessie, I’m telling you—Mander deserved it,” Serene said, shaking her head.

Newt shook his head too, a small smile playing at his lips.

“Well, let’s get her back, shall we?”

“What, already?” Newt said. He looked up at her, the sun casting a golden sheen over his wavy locks. She felt a pang in her chest. It even hurt to look at him sometimes. Although it was a kind of pain she wouldn’t trade for anything, despite all of Bea’s teasing.

“It’s getting dark, in case you hadn’t noticed,” Serene said, and she wouldn’t be surprised if he hadn’t.

Newt raised his eyes to the sky. “I suppose you’re right.” Without another word, he took Serene’s hand and began to walk towards the edge of the paddock. “Come on, Chessie,” he said over his shoulder.

Serene glanced down at their interlocked hands, then back up at Newt. He caught her look. “What?”

“I just find it funny that you have to lead me by the hand and the beast follows without a leash.” She turned back to Chessie apologetically. “I do say beast with the utmost respect, mind you.”

Chessie ruffled her feathers primly, trotting a bit faster to nudge Serene’s back with her beak. Harmless though the gesture was, she managed to bump directly on the bruise Serene had gained in yesterday’s Apparition lesson. She let out a little grunt of discomfort.

“Your hand is cold,” Newt said, squeezing it tighter.

“Well we haven’t all got fur and feathers like Chessie here,” Serene said, squeezing his hand back numbly.

Newt quickened his pace, herding them towards the solo paddocks that sat around an outcrop of trees at the edge of the Forbidden Forest. “The paddock is just around the bend,” Newt said, although Serene wasn’t sure if he was speaking to her of Chessie. She glanced over her shoulder at the hippogriff, who was trotting at a happy pace behind them.

“She’s rather cheerful,” Serene said.

“What’s not to be happy about?” Newt said.

“Well I suppose nothing, if she’s got you taking care of her,” Serene said, and although she meant it to come out as a joke like earlier, her tone was genuine. 

Newt opened his mouth, then closed it, looking embarrassed. “That is kind of you.”

“You mean honest,” Serene said, trying not to smile too widely at Newt’s darkening cheeks.

New looked ahead. “Nearly there,” he mumbled as they rounded the bend.

The paddock came into sight. Newt let go of Serene’s hand and jogged inside the fence. Serene stepped out of Chessie’s way, watching as she hurried over to Newt, who smiled, reaching into his cloak and tossing her a dead rat.

“No wonder you reek,” Serene called out to him. Newt’s grin didn’t falter. As Chessie chomped down on her treat, Newt leaned in and inspected the dressings on her wing.

“Looks all right,” she heard him murmur, “A few more days and you’ll be good as new—just don’t go buggering the big guys till you’ve grown a bit more, yeah?”

Chessie threw her head back haughtily. Serene did not take this as a promise of good behavior.

Newt walked back towards Serene, taking care to lock the padlock behind him. Chessie paced back and forth a few times in front of him, stopped, then walked to the back corner and curled up in a makeshift bed of leaves and an old blanket Newt had nicked from his common room.

Serene made to turn back towards where they’d come from, but a firm hand around her wrist stopped her short.

“What?” she said, looking down at Newt’s hand and back up to his face.

“Your back,” he said. He took out his wand, muttered a spell, and a warm fire pillowed out of his wand and hovered in the space next to them in the shape of a glowing sphere, immediately warming the air. “Let me see it.”

If she worried about Newt noticing things like red cheeks, she would have been grateful for the deepening dusk.

“N—”

“Please,” Newt said, stepping close. “I saw you were in pain, just a moment ago.”

“Well, yes, but it’s a bruise, not a broken rib.”

Newt looked at her expectantly. After a momentary stand-off, Serene conceded, shrugging off her cloak. “ _Fine_ , go on, get it over with.”

Newt nodded, his eyes shifting. Serene turned, feeling annoyingly nervous, biting back a shiver when she felt Newt’s finger push her shirt up and touch the bare skin of her back, slowly brushing up and resting on the tender area where the wooden ring had dug into her skin.

“It’s quite a nasty looking bruise,” he said. Serene swallowed back another shiver. His breath was warm too. “But in a few days, you’ll be as good as new.”

Serene rolled her eyes to the sky. “Just like Chessie.”

She abruptly stepped away, turning sharply to look at Newt, who straightened to meet her gaze.

“Ah, well, yes—isn’t that a good thing?”

“I’m not a hippogriff.”

Newt looked confused. “Well, I know that.”

Serene turned around again. “Right. Sorry.” She wasn’t being fair. Newt was just—taking care of her. It was what he did. He took care of people.

Well, in between the creatures, he did. 

She made to start walking, but Newt caught her by the wrist again.

“I wasn’t quite finished.”

Serene frowned, pulling out of his grip to turn away and cross her arms. “Newt,” she said, cursing the crack in her voice when Newt’s fingers brushed over her back again. “You’re babying again.”

“I don’t think of it like that.”

Serene took a deep breath, staring off at the castle’s twinkling windows. “Then how do you think of it?”

“I’m taking care of someone that I hurt.”

There was something odd in his voice. The leaves under his feet crinkled as his feet shifted. Serene furrowed her brow, then turned, only to find herself practically nose to nose with him. His hand was still on her back.

“Newt,” Serene said. She could step back, like before. Like before, she didn’t.

Newt was searching her face. “You’re upset. Does your back—”

“ _No_ , Newt!” Serene snapped, looking away in frustration. “It’s not my bloody back! It’s you—you taking care of me like I’m an injured bowtruckle or hippogriff, or salamander or the giant bloody squid!”

Newt’s fingers trailed away from her back to rest on her hip, his eyes confused. “But—isn’t that a good thing?” he said again.

“No!” Serene said. “I mean—yes—but—Newt, I’m not—I’m—”

She didn’t know what to do next. She squeezed her eyes shut, turned back to him, and had to stop her knees from giving out when Newt lifted his hand to cup the side of her face, lean in, and kiss her squarely on the mouth.

Of course his lips would be warm. It was Newt—his entire essence was warm and gentle, but this, Serene thought, as Newt tentatively wove the fingers of his other hand through her hair, was entirely new territory.

Newt pulled away, keeping his hands resting softly on either side of her head.

“I think of you quite differently than how I think of my creatures,” Newt said after a beat of stunned silence from Serene. His voice was quiet. He looked slightly worried. “I mean, I love you—like I love them—but you can trust I won’t be kissing them like that.” He laughed nervously. “Obviously. Well, I hope obviously.” He licked his lips. “I—I hope it was all right, that I kissed you. I’ve been wanting to—I quite nearly did before class today, and yesterday when I knocked you onto the ground. I also quite nearly did a year ago, when you punched Mander for—well, I can’t quite remember what he was doing, more of the same—and I nearly did over the summer, when you came to visit my home, in my shed, and were helping me care for the—”

Serene was glad to let him go on for a bit, and she was sure he would have. But there was nothing holding her back now, nothing stopping her from leaning up and kissing him hard, eyes, shut, fingers gripping the neck of his yellow scarf, other hand pushing through his hair and holding him close to her. She could feel his eyelashes brush against her brow bone as he closed his eyes, felt him inhale slowly, deeply, in a way that warmed her insides in the way the softly glowing fire could not, as if he was breathing her in. A hand fell back down to her hip and pulled her as close as possible, so close that his cloak was around her shoulder, fluttering against the backs of her legs.

Serene pulled away only to breathe, and nearly fell over when Newt followed to kiss her again, and again, murmuring how lovely she was, how beautiful, and Serene thought she could actually whine from the happiness, and had to choke back a whimper when Newt finally quit kissing her mouth and softly kissed her low on the forehead, right in between her eyes.

They were quiet for several moments then, the only sound being leaves rustling in the wind and their heavy breathing. Serene was scared to look up at him, but she did, and her cheeks warmed when she saw he was  _looking_  at her again, just like earlier this afternoon. All this focus and thoughts clearly trained on her.  On  _her_.

“I would tell you all the times I almost kissed you,” Serene finally whispered, her lips moving softly against his cheek as she rested her head against his. “But we would be here an embarrassing amount of time.” She closed her eyes. “I—I thought you didn’t feel that way—for anyone—least of all, me.”

Newt leaned back, just enough so that he could lift a finger and push her hair back behind her ear. “No,” he said quietly. “Most of all, you.”

~

 


End file.
